Frankenstein Enlightenment Essay

In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, she was supporting the ideas of the Enlightenment by her use of scientific reasoning throughout the text. Walton informs Victor that acquiring too much knowledge is dangerous and his experiments will only end in disaster. However, Victor refuses to listen, goes against this advice given to him, and instead creates a monster. Victor went above and beyond to create a living human being unaware of the consequences that would soon follow. He got ahead of himself when it came to his new invention. The science behind it was fascinating, but little did he know many consequences were soon to follow. Once Frankenstein was created he stood out from the rest of society because he looked and acted differently from everyone

Knowledge is power and with that being said the Enlightenment was an opportunity for society to test the limits of human understanding. One of the many consequences of imitating God’s unique ability to create life was Frankenstein killing Victor’s younger brother, William. Even after this devastating accident, Victor still sees scientific advancements as a way to overall improve humanity. In chapter 3 Victor says, “I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation”. This quote shows the ideas of the Enlightenment because Victor talks about how we wanted to explore new ways of thinking and doing things. He also wanted to figure out the secrets behind how living things come to be and are

Mankind is stubborn and thus refuses to accept its natural limits; however, sometimes positive outcomes do come out of our stubbornness. This positive outcome being many discoveries were made possible. Increased knowledge doesn’t necessarily have the potential to do serious damage, but it does have the possibility to cause unwanted harm. There is a fine line between experimenting with science and playing the role of God. Many would argue that Victor did indeed cross this line with this specific experiment. Victor is fascinated by science at a very young age and his love for science only grows deeper throughout his life as he grows older and continues to learn even more about how the world works around him. Although fascinating, Victor’s love for science became obsessive which caused him to work day and night on perfecting his experiments. Overall, it can be seen that there were many influences and consequences that are portrayed as themes of the Enlightenment in Mary Shelley’s